I am very happy with my purchase and would recommend to anyone who likes a “Cold Brew.”
Rating: 5 / 5

The cold brewed coffee is very different from hot brewed. My wife and I really like the coffee that this device made.

However, the coffee maker itself is terrible. First, it’s huge, 14+ inches tall and roughly 7-8 inches around. I struggled just to get it in my fridge.

And the product leaks like a sieve when I pour out the extract. I brewed three times with it and always, it leaked.

So I threw it out today and am trying another manufacturer.
Rating: 1 / 5

There are no consumer fixes for design flaws. In my opinion, this is a product that shouldn’t be on the market with these sorts of innate design problems. It needs a built-in pour spout, as it’s impossible to pour the extract from the brew chamber over the threads without it going every where. You certainly can’t pour the extract into any of the containers supplied with the coffeemaker. As to the various chambers, they screw together straight and tight. I’m not having a problem doing this. However they are not making an airtight seal; so again coffee goes every where.

There should also be a snap on lid, so you can put just the brew chamber with the grounds in the refrigerator while it’s “brewing.” I would think the process would stay fresher this way.

Then after the process you have 2-1/2 cups (the required amount) of wet coffee grounds that stick in the brew chamber to deal with. How do you get them out (no paper filter to help) without adding more water as a flush? and you have to do it multiple times to clear all the grounds. Problem with that is, you can’t put any of the grounds down your sink plumbing or even a garbage disposer; so what do you do with this sludge? Also consider that some of the residue from the grounds makes it into your new brew, are you going to try to filter it? I tried that, and it only made the coffee weaker.

I’m NOT HAPPY with this product. Believe me, it’s a whole lot easier and cleaner to buy the Cool Brews already made and pre-bottled. Amazon sells them. They have a richer consistency and none of the mess.

Rating: 1 / 5

1. Leaks. can be alleviated by carefully attaching each piece together, but even with care, some coffee will leak.

2. Getting it apart, after its been sitting for a while, is impossible for my wife, and I have to put some muscle into it.

3. the coffee is weak, and lacks the flavor, of the Toddy system, even with 24 hour brewing cycles, and flipping it over several times during brewing.

Recomendation. Skip this one and get the original Toddy cold brew. You get better coffee, for 1/2 the price.

Rating: 2 / 5

Don’t waste your time using ground coffee.

Use pods. There are hundreds of different varieties, most taste great. Best of all, the cleanup is a snap.

Read the instructions, and don’t forget to keep the internals clean with the enclosed de-scaler fluid.

Buy the DeLonghi. You will never regret your decision.

Rating: 5 / 5

But, here are the reasons one should look at a different machine in this price range.

1. There is no automatic cut-off when making espresso – you must stop the machine yourself! I have owned some cheap espresso makers in the past and even those would stop after one or two cups are filled. This machine has no such option – if you don’t stop it, it will continue running water until it’s all gone from the tank. For $250 the lack of this function just boggles me.

2. Preheating – the manual recommends at least 15min of preheating. Most of the espresso drinkers don’t have the time/patience for such a long period of preheating. When I get up in the morning the first thing I do is make coffee, 15min of waiting before you even start is unacceptable. You can start making coffee in about 2-3 min (which is fine, since it takes that long to get the coffee ready), but if you make 2 small cups, the second one comes barely warm.

If I paid around $100 for this machine, there would be no reason for any of the comapints above. But at $250 – it should have been made much better (MSRP is shown as $350, according to Amazon). Again, the espresso is great, but I have little doubt that all the machines in this price range would make good coffee. If you don’t mind the couple of things I’ve noted above, you may want to buy it, I will certainly keep the machine. But if I had to buy again or recommend – I wouldn’t.

Update: I just thought I should stress again the fact that there is no safety cut off feature either. What I mean is that If you fill up the water tank and start the machine it will run until all the water is gone. I know this may sound a bit stretched, but if you start the machine and for example your kid starts crying in the living room, you go to see what’s going on – you may come back to one messy kitchen not to mention that it could be a fire hazard, considering the majority of us will keep the machine on the counter, among other small appliances.
Rating: 3 / 5